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Inside The Bills

He hasn’t gotten much playing time to show it yet, but Shawne Merriman feels his burst off the ball is better now than it was back in August.

“Yeah. It’s definitely a lot better,” he said after getting seven plays against the Titans in Week 7. “I’m a lot more comfortable and I guess more than anything else I’m having fun now and that’s the best way I play football to have fun. The same way I did growing up playing in backyard is the same way I feel now. Like I said things are a blessing and things happen for a reason. Now that I get a chance to come back and contribute it’s huge for me.”

The struggle to stay healthy enough to play and make an impact has obviously had an effect on Merriman. It’s clear that he values the opportunity to play more than he ever has. And that is what is likely driving him now.

“It’s an opportunity,” he said of his second go-round with the Bills. “An opportunity I won’t take for granted. An opportunity I get to go out and be a part of something again. We all set a common goal at the start of the season and that goal hasn’t changed.”

When asked about his physical state concerning his Achilles, Merriman brushes it off.

“I feel good. I really don’t even think about it anymore,” Merriman said. “Things became a blessing and now I get a chance to come back and contribute. That’s why they brought me back here to come back and do everything in my power as a player to go out and do what this defense needs me to do.”